Day 360 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 10.1 - (1,037 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 10.1

“So he just left his Mom in this place and took off with you and this new chick? What?’ James was catching up with Derek, they hadn’t left the hospital basement morgue yet, and they figured this was as good a place as any to catch up. It was out of sight, they could tell if there was anyone on the way via the lift motion or they’d hear them coming down the stairs.

The town did not seem like a potentially threatening environment to them, the assembled people they saw in the clinic’s foyer looked more academic and useful members of society, not the muscle-bound militia types. They discussed the town at length guessing wildly at the purpose and the intent of it, and what it’s connection to the City where James had been was.

They knew they were just speculating though, none of this made the blindest bit of sense without some context pointing to some meaning behind all of this. They came back to Ben, and the rollercoaster of their relationship with him.

“He was quite protective of her in one moment and then in the next? She’s delivered as a hostage and he barely bats an eye.” Derek shook his head.

“What did she say about this?” James asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” James was incredulous.

“Not. A. Thing.”

“That’s odd, I mean that is very odd to you yeah? I mean can you imagine our mother going like that or us even letting her? I … it’s odd.”

Derek agreed but he had nothing to offer but the facts as he saw them, “Ben just agreed to all of their terms and it was done, we were there maybe ten minutes of so and then on the road again on the way to here.”

“And where is here again?” James remembered nothing of the journey he had taken.

“I have no idea, its further south, possibly one state or more down, but how far and where we are? Fuck knows.”

The brothers stared at each other for a moment but then a rattling shudder caught their attention.

“Did you..?”

“Yes.”

James pulled back the tray from the morgue drawer where Lisa had been ‘stored’ and there she was, eyes open and body twitching as she pulled at her restraints trying to free herself. There was no spirit or personality in the eyes, just a twitching body that operated like a machine, moving and grasping at things under instinct.

James picked up the clipboard and the looked at the clock on the wall, nothing the time before pushing the body back into the cavity on the tray. As he did that he flicked the switch that Rob had told Derek to push when closing Lisa away, and the green light came on at the front of the tray next to the handle.

The noise stopped immediately. The same thing that pacified the zombie was a similar signal to the one that they had seen used by Ben and the people who may or may not have been his friends, it was all very unclear.

“What are you doing dumbass?” Derek took the clipboard away from James, who promptly snatched it back from him.

“The thing you were supposed to do!” James finished filling the form out and then put it back on the counter top where Rob had left it for Derek to complete.

“You know we’re not staying here right?” Derek looked James in the eyes and made his point with all the seriousness he could muster. “We can’t stay here.”

“Yes, but that’s no excuse for doing a bad job, and getting your new friend in trouble is it?” James folded his arms and looked down at his unbelieving brother.

Derek threw up his arms and then put his palms upwards in mock surrender.  “Shall we go then?”

“Let’s.”

Derek led the way back through the lift to the ground floor and they checked the lobby, now empty and only the emergency lighting in the hallways was on. Derek lead James outside with confidence, not slowing down or checking the corners for people first. He had acted like he belonged here and anyone that had seen him in the meeting, which he surmised was the bulk of the town, would accept his identity readily.

The brothers were halfway across the town when he heard his name being called out. “Tom? Tom!”

He spun about and as he did so put a hand on this brothers back and gave him a small push in the direction of the fire escapes that he had come down when entering the town.

“You just keep going, … “He thought frantically “ Ben, yeah you go and I’ll catch you later!” Derek shouted to James and then accompanied it with a half wave.

 The Doctor from earlier, Sarah, was standing and waving him to come over and join her.

“Hi?” Derek started, but she had a plan.

“I’ve been looking for you, where have you been?” She asked concerned.

“Uh, in the morgue waiting to catalogue the … transition?” Derek asked more than stated that.

“Robert should have been doing that, that’s his job really. He’ll wait, when I see him next I’ll tear him a new…” Sarah was annoyed that Rob had interfered within someone she had vouched for yet again.

“Yes, but I sent him home – he looked a bit shattered to be honest and after all this excitement, tonight, I mean it’s the first event we’ve had like this since…?” Derek left it open and hoped his brother had found the alleyway and some semblance of privacy where he could join him later.” Derek tried to sounded as magnanimous as humanly possible to draw the attention away from himself and focused on being out of contact for 3 months.

“Well, I found you now, and you should come with, the Leadership is voting on anew member, we were hoping to colonise this nest with new blood, but not just new, effective too. That’s where you come in.”

“I’m very flattered but… “ And then Derek realized just mow much was stopping him and how many arguments where there to stay, more were there to go.